Telephone



[NO Model.)

J. LOWTH.

TELEPHONE.

No. 312,365. Patented Feb. 17, 1885.,

N. PETERS. Pholcruma m lw Wtbhillglun. D. c.

such that they may be communicated to a telerrrcn.

PATENT JAMES LOIVIH, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TELEPHONE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 312,365, dated February 17, 1885.

- Application filed lane 2, 1888. (No model.)

T0 (6 w/wm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES Lowrn, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Art of Telephony, of which the following is a correct description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention is based upon the fact or discovery that those exterior parts of the human body which are located in the vicinity of the vocal organs (such, for instance, as the exterior surfaces of the throat,and especially those parts near the larynx) are subject to certain disturbances or vibrations induced by and accompanying the exercise of the vocal organs, and that those disturbances or vibrations are phone under such conditions that they will so affect it as to cause the transmission or reproduction of words or other sounds uttered by the organs of speech.

To reduce this invention to practical use, I establish communication between those exterior parts of the body subject to the disturbances or vibrations above referred to and the current -controlling elements of a telephonetransmitter, and for this purpose I employ such a conductor as will properly and effectually communicate the disturbances or vibrations to the current-controlling elements of the telephone, and under those conditions the sounds to be transmitted are uttered.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention appertains fully to understand and practice the same, I will now more fully explain my improvement, referring by letters to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown an apparatus such as I have already employed in the successful reduction of my invention to practice, and in which- Figure 1 is a side view of so much of a telephonic apparatus as is necessary to be shown for the purpose set forth, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section (on an enlarged scale) of the transmitter part of the said apparatus.

The type of telephone which I have selected for illustrating my invention belongs to the class commonly termec magneto, but my improvement in the art may be put into practice with other species of telephones by the use of properly-constructed apparatus.

In the drawings, A represents a small box, having a cap or lid applied thereto.

0 is a magnet located insaid box, and D is a helix, one end of which is carried to a binding-post, a, and the other end to a like post, a, both binding-posts being applied to the said box, and the said helix being applied in the usual manner.

D is a vibrator or diaphragm located in the box A and just out of contact with the magnet G.

E is a tube one end of which enters the cap B.

F is a rod orconductor passing freely through the said tube and cap. This conductor,which in the example shown consists ofasolid bodyas, for instance, woodserves as a medium of communication between the exterior parts of the body and the current-controlling elements of the telephone, by or through which the disturbances or vibrations of the former are communicated to the latter. The inner end of this rod or conductor is pointed, and enters a depression (or perforation) in the diaphragm D. By this means the inner end of the rod F is retained in place relatively to the said diaphragm, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

G is a small strap or band, of rubber or other sufficiently flexible material, extending across the open outer end of the tube E, and the rod F passes through this band or strap, and is held by it yieldingly and out of contact with the tube E.

II is a head or'button, on the outer end of the rod F, to adapt that end to be pressed with comfort lightly against the throat (or other external part referred to) of the person using the apparatus.

I I are wires forming a metallic circuit, passing from the binding-posts a and a, re.- spectively, to two binding-posts on a receiver, J, as indicated in Fig. 1.

To practice my invention with the apparatus now described, the speaker simply brings one portion of the said conductor lightly against or in contact with the exterior of his throat or other exterior bodily part subjectto the disturbances or vibrations referred to, and talks in his ordinary way, while a listener at the other end of the line applies a telephonic receiver of any well-known kind to his ear in the usual manner. The utterance of sounds by the speaker will produce disturbances or vibrations in the exterior portions of the body which, being communicated to the telephonetransmitter, will produce such changes in the current as will reproduce the sounds at the receiver, which sounds may be distinctly heard by the listener, and thus any desired message may be transmitted over the line with as good if not better results than those obtained by the mode of operation practiced prior to my invention.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that in carrying out my invention therein both a transmitter and a receiver may be employed at each end of the circuit, as heretociple and scope of my invention, the distinguishing feature of which I have already set forth.

I do not in this application claim the device shown and described herein, as that forms the subject-matter of my application No. 139,995, filed August 8, 1884.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. As an improvement in the art of telephony, the hereinbeforedescribed method of operating a telephone, which consists in communicating to the current-controlling elements thereof the disturbances or vibrations of the exterior parts of the human body which are induced by or accompany the exercise of the vocal organs.

2. As an improvement in the'art of telephony, the hereinbefore-described method of transmitting speech, which consists in communicating to the telephonetransmitter those disturbances or vibrations of the exterior portions of the body which are induced by or accompany the utterance of articulate sounds, producing changes in the current corresponding to said disturbances or vibrations, and reproducing in the receiver disturbances or vibrations that produce sounds similar to those uttered in causing the said exterior (listurbances or vibrations of the body.

3. As an improvement in the art of telephony, the hereinbefore described method of operating a telephone-transmitter, which consists in communicating to the current-controlling elements thereof, through the medium of a conductor connected therewith and placed in contact with the body of the speaker, those disturbances or vibrations of the exterior portions of the body which accompany the utterance of sound.

JAMES LOWTH.

\Vitnesses:

F. F. WARNER, J. B. HALPENNY. 

